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    Finding Emma: A Novel
    Finding Emma: A Novel
    Finding Emma: A Novel
    Audiobook7 hours

    Finding Emma: A Novel

    Written by Steena Holmes

    Narrated by Natalie Ross

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    A mother’s near-obsessive devotion to her missing daughter threatens to destroy more than one family.

    Megan is the harried but happy stay-at-home mother of three little girls living in a small town. Her life implodes when her youngest daughter, Emma, disappears on her third birthday.

    Two years later, Megan is preparing to commemorate Emma’s birthday and the anniversary of her kidnapping, compelled to keep her name alive in the minds of her community and her family. Her commitment to Emma, however, borderlines on obsession as she follows the families of little girls who look like the daughter she lost.

    Her obsession with finding Emma has distanced Megan from both friends and family. Her two older daughters are resentful of her relentless and fruitless search for their sister, and her husband pleads with her to accept that Emma is gone so that the family can move on with their lives.

    Meanwhile, in the same small town, Jack is beginning to question his wife’s secrecy about their adored granddaughter, Emmie. As Dottie slips into dementia and becomes increasingly protective over Emmie, he can’t help but wonder if there could be a dark secret that Dottie is keeping from him.

    Jack and Megan’s worlds finally intersect at the town carnival, when Megan snaps a photograph of a little girl on her grandfather’s shoulders.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateFeb 26, 2013
    ISBN9781469295268
    Finding Emma: A Novel
    Author

    Steena Holmes

    Steena Holmes is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of titles including Saving Abby, Stillwater Rising, and The Memory Child. Named to the “20 Best Books by Women in 2015” list by Good Housekeeping and Redbook, Steena won the National Indie Excellence Award in 2012 for Finding Emma as well as the USA Book News Award for The Word Game in 2015. Steena lives in Calgary, Alberta, and is a self-proclaimed “travelholic” who can’t resist a good cup of coffee. To find out more about her books and her love of traveling, you can visit her website at www.steenaholmes.com or follow her journeys on Instagram @authorsteenaholmes.

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    Reviews for Finding Emma

    4/5

    73 ratings12 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Okay simple story nice ending but a little obvious. The reader was excellent
    • 4/5
      This is a powerful story about a woman’s desperate search for the daughter that disappeared two years earlier. There are two stories here; one involving Megan and the search for her missing daughter. Her obsessiveness may be the destruction of her marriage and family. Meanwhile, there is Jack and Dottie, taking care of their young granddaughter Emmie and Dottie is suffering from dementia. I really felt the pain that Megan was going through and the effect it had on her husband and two other daughters. I also understood what Jack was going through, having to deal with his wife and a granddaughter that reminded them of their own daughter. It is certainly a tear-jerker and it is nice to hear that Emma’s story will continue in a sequel.
    • 4/5
      An emotionally charged story of a little girl who goes missing for two years and the devastating effects it had on her family, The pain and anguish the mother experienced was almost palpable, a parent's worst nightmare. Through it all, Peter tried to console and keep his marriage to Megan together as he attempts to provide closure to care for their other two daughters. Even after 2 years Megan couldn't help but see Emma's face in every child she encountered. How does one put closure on a missing child when there is no body to bury, no funeral to attend? Although Megan decides it is time to move on for the sake of her family, she still holds onto to the hope that her daughter is still alive waiting for her.
    • 5/5
      This is my first Steena Holmes title to read, and it was a page turner (or screen swiper)! It was difficult to put down.

      Megan is the mother of three girls, and her youngest Emma is a bit of a wanderer. When a seemingly innocent moment passes, and she realizes her daughter has slipped out of the house, a two-year nightmare begins. Emma disappeared, and Megan is left shattered, present but not present for her husband, Peter and daughters Alexis and Hannah.

      With her marriage barely holding together, Megan agrees to put her focus on the "here and now" and let go of Emma. Except, she is convinced that Emma is in the background of the photo she took at the fair. Can she trust Peter to believe her...or is she once again deceiving herself?
    • 4/5
      Megan, a typical busy and distractable mother, loses her 3-year-old when she wanders out the front door and vanishes. Megan is trying to cope as best she can, but feels some guilt about what happened, as does one of her two other daughters. On the surface Megan is pulled it off, but a closer look at her relationship with her two daughters and her husband, it is evident that the family has not healed. Without spoiling the end, there is some resolution but clearly it is not "the end," a sequel follows.
    • 5/5
      I was profoundly moved by this book, the story of a child who goes missing, and how it deeply devastates her mother and family. It is skillful storytelling at its best, and it simply draws you in. Megan didn’t know how to live her life without her daughter, Emma. It was like her life was on pause. In her quest to find her missing daughter, she’d forgotten that she still had two daughters by her side waiting to be noticed, and a husband who was dealing with Emma’s disappearance in his own way. The author manages to weave many elements into the storyline and the relationships between the characters are superb. Jack and Emmie’s relationship especially touched me. Deep feelings are portrayed in many scenes, with writing that is poignant and filled with emotion. Finding Emma has a well-constructed plot, compelling characters, and a satisfying conclusion – a beautifully written story that will warm your heart. Most definitely a 5 star novel by and incredible author.
    • 4/5
      This was a fantastic book about what happens to a family when a child is kidnapped. Emma has been missing for two years, her mother Megan is obsessed with finding her, her husband feels estranged from his wife because he is handing his grief differently and their other two daughters feel like they have been abandoned. Across town, Emmie is living with her grandparents but has memories of another family. There were some things that were confusing at the end of the story but the author plans to write a sequel and hopefully that will clear up those issues. This is a book that will make you cry!
    • 3/5
      Maybe this book just couldn't come close to The Deep End of the Ocean. This is a story of a young child snatched from their front yard by a woman who was developing Alzheimer's. Some serious plot holes, and I didn't think the characters' voices rang true at all. Would not recommend.
    • 5/5
      An incredible book. I couldn't put it down, even when I had tears in my eyes.
    • 4/5
      I get asked to review a lot of self-published work and, honestly, I'm very picky about these books. I don't accept as many as I'm offered and they often disappoint. Finding Emma is not one of these books. I'm not entirely sure why this book doesn't have a major publisher because it certainly deserves one. I'm very glad I accepted this book and got the opportunity to read and review it.Imagine what it must be like to have a child taken from you. Imagine never knowing, the ache that must cause, the disruption to your marriage and to your other children, the inability to let go, and the sight of this child everywhere you turn. Imagine feeling like everyone in your life wants you to just get over it and let it go. Imagine you're about to lose everything, but you know deep in your heart, in your guts that your child is out there waiting for you to find him or her and you just can't let go. Finding Emma is a story with all of those elements.Megan is a character on a mission to find her child. No matter what anyone says, no matter what happens around her, she can't and won't let go and the consequences of this choice are monumental and felt by everyone around her. And then, one day, after years of crying wolf, she really does see her daughter and has to try to get someone to listen to her. All of this while trying to manage everyday life, her relationship with her husband, her relationship with her remaining children, and the ghost of Emma hanging all around her.Imagine what it must be like to know your child is dead from years on the street and a drug overdose. Imagine wanting to do something, anything, to correct the mistakes you made. Imagine mental illness driving you to take someone's child and hide the fact from everyone around you, disguising the child as family. All of these elements are in Finding Emma.So many books on this subject are maudlin or one-sided and very rarely are the motives that drive someone who takes a child addressed, unless (of course) the taker is a sexual predator and then it's all about the gory detail. Ms. Holmes takes a complex and difficult subject and tells a complex and wonderful story and she tells it from multiple points of view, forcing the reader to get inside all the bits and pieces and inhabit them until the whole thing reveals itself as what it is - a deep tragedy.This is a book worth reading and worth purchasing, not only because all of the proceeds from the book are being donated to the Missing Children's Society of Canada - an organization that focuses on reuniting families. What a great way to make a difference.
    • 5/5
      Finding Emma is a very moving and emotional story about what happens when a child goes missing. Imagine the fear, disbelief, anger and other emotional feelings that must be the norm in a situation like this and can threaten to tear apart a family. I can only imagine what this might feel like. Reading Finding Emma to me was very heartbreaking in that the author's writing made me feel all the feelings that Megan was feeling during the two years that Emma was missing. A true eyeopener of a novel. I highly recommend this book and give it 5 stars.
    • 5/5
      From Lilac Wolf and StuffI knew I'd enjoy this book, but really I loved it. My heart broke for Peter and Megan, whose marriage is being held together by a thread. It's not a surprise that many relationships don't survive this kind of tragedy. Your heart breaks over and over again, it would be hard to not take out some frustration on the person nearest you. And the other problem is devoting so much energy to finding your missing child that you completely ignore your family that is still there.The story also goes into the elderly couple. It's so sad because Jack still loves Dottie so very much, that he doesn't see the woman she has become, or he doesn't want to. Honestly, the characters are so rich that you don't really dislike anyone, not even Emma's kidnapper.The story is well told, and well written. I had a hard time putting this one down.